First Day of School

Adolf's first day of school.

I could write an entire blog about how grateful I am for all the wonderful people that have helped support and encourage us during this adventure. It has truly been amazing and heartwarming that so many people, even strangers, have been so supportive of what we are doing. Today, however, I will limit my thanks to the children, teachers, and administrators at Adolf’s new school. I was hesitant about placing him in public school for a variety of reasons, but all my cares melted away yesterday as soon as I entered his school campus. An adorable little girl stopped me at the gate and said, “Are you Adolf? I am Julie* and you are in my class!” Adolf gave the little girl a high five and had a beaming smile on his face as he replied in his adorable accent, “Yeeeees. Hi.” Within moments we were surrounded by adoring little children as we walked to the office to turn in our final paperwork. Soon, the entire front office was filled with parents and students curious about their new classmate. The principal and his teacher soon came into the office with huge bright smiles to welcome Adolf to school. We took some pictures together and his teacher told me how excited her entire class is to welcome Adolf to school. She even learned to say a few phrases in his native language, Rutooro! I LOVE her! It was a wonderful moment for Adolf. He was so excited and happy. I loved seeing him smiling and expressing his joy and the other students were just as excited to meet him. The entire entourage walked to class together and the students made him a huge welcome poster and colored a Ugandan flag and all said hello in Rutooro. I am so impressed how well this teacher prepared her class for Adolf’s arrival. I was speechless at how compassionate and caring the students were toward him. She said some of the students’ parents have expressed interest in helping in any way and wanted to meet our family personally. The principal was just as amazing and mentioned a variety of programs and services the school can offer Adolf. I seriously could not have been more impressed. It was an incredible welcome.

All day I was anxious and excited to pick him up from school. When he came out of the classroom, he had a huge smile on his face and said, “Hi, Mommy.” Other parents were there picking up their children and were also very friendly and welcoming.  They were curious about Adolf and said they were “privileged” to have him in their son/daughter’s class. Many of the children gave him high fives, waves, and big smiles as we walked out of the school. I think only an appearance by Justin Beiber would have gathered more attention! Despite the many smiles, Adolf was exhausted! His legs hurt badly and we had to stop multiple times on the way to the car. Driving home, he said, “Mama, my head hurts. I sick.” When we got home he crawled into my bed and fell asleep. He was still happy, but the entire experience was very overwhelming for him.

Today he woke up well rested and ready to start another day at school. This time however, I brought my stroller and pushed him so he did not have to walk so far from the car into his classroom. We arrived a few minutes early so he could play outside. I also had two of my little ones with me and I was trying to watch all three of them on the playground when I realized Adolf had wondered away somewhere. I tried to corral my two little kids into the stroller so I could look for him when the bell rang. I waited and watched as the other children went running into their respective classrooms. Where did Adolf go? Did he wander off campus? Did he go into the wrong classroom? Is someone bullying him out of eyesight of adults? After a few frantic moments, I saw him. He had a huge beaming smile as two of his adorable female classmates were leading him by the hand to his class. One was even carrying his backpack. What a lucky guy! I knew I didn’t need to be such a protective mother bear anymore!

With Adolf in school full time, Eva now has a lot of time alone at home. This alone time is very unusual for her as she is used to working in a busy orphanage with 80 children and five adults. She has kept herself busy by learning to use a computer and learning about cooking in America. Today I taught her how to make my grandma’s famous chocolate layer cake. I am not much of a baker myself, so I feel like it is the blind leading the blind and something definitely went wrong with the cake. The edges look overdone, but the middle never seemed to cook all the way and ended up collapsing. I definitely failed both Eva and my grandmother as it was a pathetic rendition of her cake. Tomorrow we will frost the cake and maybe that will help. At least it might make it look better. I guess I have a little practicing to do with my own baking. Maybe with Eva’s extra time, she can perfect the cake and then teach me how to do it properly.

Eva baking my grandma's famous chocolate cake.

Friday is Adolf’s first appointment with the surgeon that will be operating on his legs. With all the other excitement going on, it is easy to forget the purpose of Adolf’s stay in America is to repair his legs. It will be a long and painful process for him, but we all are looking forward to the end result. In the meantime, I ask for your prayers for the doctors and Adolf as we move down the road toward full recovery.  

*Names have been changed.

My brother-in-law, husband, Hunter, and Adolf went to the LA Auto Show today at the Los Angeles Convention Center. They had a great time doing their guy thing looking at all these shiny metal things that go fast. 

My brother-in-law Laine with Adolf.

I adore his pose in this picture! He is quite the ladies man.

 

My husband, Adolf, and Hunter.